CLIMATE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does climate mean? 

• CLIMATE (noun)
  The noun CLIMATE has 2 senses:

1. the weather in some location averaged over some long period of time

2. the prevailing psychological state

  Familiarity information: CLIMATE used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CLIMATE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The weather in some location averaged over some long period of time

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

climate; clime

Context example:

plants from a cold clime travel best in winter

Hypernyms ("climate" is a kind of...):

environmental condition (the state of the environment)

Derivation:

acclimate; acclimatise; acclimatize (get used to a certain climate)

climatic; climatical (of or relating to a climate)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The prevailing psychological state

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

climate; mood

Context example:

the national mood had changed radically since the last election

Hypernyms ("climate" is a kind of...):

condition; status (a state at a particular time)

 Context examples 

Records of Zealandia's history, expedition scientists said, will provide a sensitive test for computer models used to predict future changes in climate.

(Scientists return from expedition to lost continent of Zealandia, National Science Foundation)

The stalagmite data was compared with recorded information on rainfall in northeast India and other aspects of climate worldwide.

(Cave stalagmites reveal India’s rainfall secrets, SciDev.Net)

These record setting years concern those who see this as a sure sign that climate change is happening at a quickened pace.

(World Meteorological Org.: Arctic Warming Appears Irreversible, VOA)

To show that the local climate contributed to this difference, the researchers looked at the spatial distribution of these traits and correlated them with local temperatures and humidity.

(Nose Form Was Shaped by Climate, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

These mismatched hares showed up at the same time that climate modelers were announcing consistent and drastic decreases in seasonal snowfall across the Northern Hemisphere.

(Twenty-one species adapted to disappear in the snow. Then, the snow disappeared, National Science Foundation)

Such dust emissions from the Southern Hemisphere have been relatively low, but reductions in vegetation cover due to land use or climate change may allow new sources like the Kalahari to emerge.

(Sleeping sands of the Kalahari awaken after more than 10,000 years, NSF)

How trees respond to drought is important for models used to predict climate change.

(What's killing trees during droughts?, National Science Foundation)

"As scientists continue to understand global patterns of biodiversity, we suggest they incorporate past climate and human impact factors into their studies," he says.

(Connecting the prehistoric past to the global future, National Science Foundation)

"That is to say," cried Marianne contemptuously, "he has told you, that in the East Indies the climate is hot, and the mosquitoes are troublesome."

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

"Models are our best chance to predict the many ways the oceans will respond as climate changes, but our predictions are only as good as the data underlying them."

(Study reveals new patterns of key ocean nutrient, National Science Foundation)